The present invention relates to media for information storage and retrieval. In particular, the invention provides a removable cartridge device having an elastically deformable, protective enclosure containing a data-storage medium.
In the design of disk drives, it is important to minimize the potential for chemical and particulate contamination of the various components. Fine dust and other contaminants can damage the read/write heads and the recording surfaces, resulting in data destruction, head crashes, access errors and the like.
While fixed hard-disk drives can be manufactured and sealed in a clean room to prevent contamination, removable cartridge drives must endure periodic exposure to the external environment. A hermetic seal, like that found with most fixed drives, is not possible with a removable cartridge because read/write heads must be able to get in and out of the cartridge in order to address the magnetic storage disk.
Designers of cartridge-based, removable hard-disk drives have developed various arrangements to minimize the entry of dust and other particulates. One exemplary design includes a clamshell consisting of an upper shell hingedly attached to a mating bottom shell. A pair of spring-loaded latches holds the two shells together in a closed position. In operation, the cartridge is inserted into a drive bay where two projecting pins force the latches back, allowing the top and bottom shells to pivot away from each other, thus providing an opening for a read/write head assembly to enter and address a magnetic storage disk. According to another design, a flexible metal gate is mounted for sliding movement within a channel along an edge of a cartridge. When the cartridge is inserted into the drive, the gate slides open to provide access for the heads to address a disk.
While useful for reducing particulate contamination from extrinsic sources, the above arrangements introduce intrinsic sources. For example, moving parts exposed to the cartridge interior, such as hinges, spring-loaded latches and sliding gates, can create particulate debris from frictional and rubbing forces that can be deposited on the media surface. In addition, such mechanical parts often require lubricants to reduce wear that can contribute significant levels of chemical contaminants. As a further disadvantage, such mechanically intensive constructions can be complex and expensive to produce, as well.
There is, thus, a need for a cartridge-based, removable disk drive that minimizes both extrinsic and instrinsic contamination, yet is relatively simple in design and inexpensive to produce.
One aspect of the present invention provides a data-storage medium cartridge device. More particularly, the invention provides a data-storage medium housed within an elastically deformable, protective enclosure. The cartridge device is adapted for repeated insertion into, and removal from, a drive unit.
According to one embodiment, the cartridge device includes an enclosure containing a data-storage medium, such as a hard disk, floppy disk or compact disk (CD). Structure is provided for coupling an external drive, such as a motor-driven spindle, to the data-storage medium. An opening is provided along a front edge region of the enclosure which, upon application of a sufficient compressive force from opposing lateral sides of the enclosure, is expandable from (i) a normally closed condition at which the medium in the enclosure is substantially shielded from contaminants in the external environment, to (ii) an opened condition permitting the entry of a transducer, such as a read/write head, to address the medium.
According to one embodiment, the enclosure includes upper and lower shell portions formed at least in part of an elastically resilient material (e.g., a polycarbonate with a carbon-fiber filler). The shell portions are disposed adjacent to one another with confronting, inner surfaces defining a cavity for receiving the data-storage medium. The shell portions have peripheral regions that are joined together to form a substantially permanent seal, except along the front edge region of the enclosure. First and second elongated flaps extend from the upper and lower shell portions, respectively, along the front edge region of the enclosure, with adjacent regions of the elongated flaps defining the expandable opening.
In one embodiment, the adjacent regions of the elongated flaps meet, in the closed condition, to form a substantially airtight seal. In another embodiment, the adjacent regions of the elongated flaps overlap one another, in the closed condition, to form a tongue-in-groove or labyrinth-type seal.
The structure for coupling an external drive to the medium includes, according to one embodiment, a spindle-insertion aperture extending through a central region of the lower shell portion, and a hub assembly disposed in the enclosure coaxially with the aperture. In this embodiment, the hub supports the data-storage medium at a central region thereof.
In one embodiment, the hub is urged against the lower shell portion, across the aperture, in the absence of a compressive force from opposing lateral sides of the enclosure (i.e., when the front edge region of the enclosure is in the closed condition), thereby shielding the cavity from the external environment. An annular gasket or seal (e.g., a TEFLON(copyright) ring) can be disposed between the hub assembly and the inner surface of the lower shell portion around the aperture.
According to one embodiment, a plurality of crease lines are formed in the shell portions. The crease lines are thinner in cross-section (i.e., the measured distance through a shell portion between its inner and outer surfaces) than adjacent shell-portion regions so that the shell portions prefer to bend at the crease lines when stressed by a compressive force from opposing lateral sides of the enclosure. The crease lines can be, for example, living hinges formed integrally with the shell portions, or thinned sections formed by scoring, as with a laser or knife.
One embodiment provides biasing structure for urging the adjacent regions of the flaps together from an open condition to the closed condition. The biasing structure can include, for example, (i) a normally flat leaf spring extending along at least one of the flaps, and/or (ii) a spring member disposed internally within the enclosure in pressing engagement with opposing lateral sides of the enclosure. In this latter construction, the spring tends to push the opposing lateral sides of the enclosure away from one another.
In one exemplary construction, the enclosure of the device is substantially box-shaped, with expansive central regions of the upper and lower shell portions defining upper and lower major surfaces, respectively, and the joined peripheral regions defining substantially rectangular, lateral sidewalls.
The enclosure can be assembled from separately formed component parts (e.g., distinct upper and lower half-shells), or it can be molded from a single piece of material. One embodiment provides a living hinge between upper and lower shell portions integrally formed from a single piece of plastic. In this embodiment, the upper and lower shell portions are folded towards one another about the living hinge.
In one embodiment, all of the lateral sidewalls are integrally formed and continuous with the upper and lower shell portions. That is, the enclosure is a seamless, mitten-like construction. According to another embodiment, two of the lateral sidewalls, located adjacent the opening, are formed by bonding overlapping peripheral regions of the upper and lower shell portions. The bond can be, for example, a fusion bond. Further in this embodiment, one of the lateral sidewalls, located across from the opening, is integrally formed and continuous with the upper and lower shell portions.
In another of its aspects, the present invention provides a method for accessing a data-storage medium, such as a disk, housed within a resiliently flexible, protective enclosure having a normally closed front edge region.
According to one embodiment, the method includes the steps of:
(i) compressing the enclosure at opposing lateral side-edge regions, thereby causing upper and lower confronting surfaces of the cartridge to bulge or arc outward to form an elongated opening along the front edge region of the cartridge; and
(ii) inserting a read/write head through the opening and addressing the data-storage medium.
In one embodiment, the enclosure includes upper and lower shell portions formed at least in part of an elastically resilient material (e.g., plastic). The shell portions are disposed adjacent one another with confronting, inner surfaces defining a cavity for receiving the data-storage medium. The shell portions have peripheral regions that are joined together to form a substantially permanent seal, except along the front edge region of the enclosure. First and second flap portions extend from the upper and lower shell portions, respectively, along the front edge region of the enclosure, with adjacent regions of the flaps defining the opening.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description.